Chutak Hydroelectric Project

Audit Analysis

The Chutak Hydroelectric Project is a small-scale CDM hydro project in India with a solid additionality assessment (combined test, VVB-confirmed) and a standard jurisdictional grid baseline. However, the project delivered only 14–33% of its pro-rata ex-ante emission reduction expectation during the monitored period, and a discrepancy between the PDD and monitoring report on verified reductions raises data-reliability questions. No reversals, no corrective actions, and a reasonable leakage treatment support moderate confidence in the credits issued.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified reductions (69,862 tCO2e per the monitoring report) represent only ~14% of the pro-rata expectation (~498,878 tCO2e) derived from the PDD's lifetime estimate of 1,167,819 tCO2e over 7 years, indicating the ex-ante projection was substantially optimistic for the monitored period.
• ⚠A contradiction exists between the PDD (1,167,819 tCO2e) and the monitoring report (69,862 tCO2e) on total ERR figures; the merged record also carries a third value of 166,831 tCO2e of unclear provenance, creating ambiguity about the true verified reduction for the period.
• ⚠The grid emission factor of 0.793 tCO2/MWh is drawn from 2006 data, which is six years before the crediting period began in 2012; no updated or sensitivity-checked factor is documented.

Credit Vintages